. the moment of truth. america goes to the polls to pick the next president. several battleground states, including virginia key to the outcome. 270 is the magic number. who will it be? president obama? >> we feel confident we have the votes to win. >> mitt romney. >> this is a big day for big change. >> the world is watching and waiting. this is the news edge you decide 2012, our live coverage starts now. thanks for joining us tonight on the special edition of the news edge. the polls will close in 30 minutes in virginia, maryland,

and d.c. at 8:00 p.m. we'll go live to polling places in just a moment. first, the race for the white house. tom fitzgerald has been tracking the candidates and joins us live. tom? >> reporter: today was a day on, not a day off for mitt romney as the republican ticket continued to campaign in the battlegrounds of ohio and neighboring states. president obama concluded his last campaign event last night, what was back out making phone calls and meeting with volunteers as is an election headquarters today. we begin this election night in chicago illinois, where president obama arrived last night and today made a surprise appearance at a hyde park field office. the president placing calls to voters in wisconsin thanking supporters for a hard-fought campaign. >> it's a source of great optimism for me whenever i come to election day because i end up having so much confidence in the decency and goodness and

wisdom of ordinary folks working so hard and trying to move forward. >> to richmond heights, ohio, now, where that republican greeted volunteers. romney telling supporters that the buckeye state is key to winning the white house. >> thank you so very much for being here today and for helping people get out to vote. it's critical. this is a big day for big change. we're about to change america to help people in ways that they couldn't imagine they could be helped. >> reporter: to jamesville, wisconsin now, where earlier in the day, presidential candidate paul ryan cast his votes in his hometown. he later joined romney at the same campaign office and also thanked volunteers for everything they have done. >> there is a great day. this is a day we work hard to get our country back on the right track. we're getting out and getting

our fellow americans to get a vote. we want to thank you for-from- the bottom of our hearts for this great effort. >> reporter: finally, we stop in greenville, delaware, vice president joe biden and his wife casting votes in biden's hometown. the vice president served 36 years in the u.s. senate serving the first state and returned to the polling place where he's cast ballots in many of the previous races. >> this is the eighth time i have run statewide in delaware and it's always a kick. i hope everyone exercises their right to vote. this is a great honor and people are standing in line in a lot of placeis. i encourage them to stand in line as long as they have to. >> reporter: after all of the speeches, ads, rallies, conventions and debates, it coming down to election day. today on the trail, november 6th, 2012. >> we're going to bring in fox

5 political analyst mark platkin. i want to zero in on the state of virginia right now. we have 27 minutes before the poll comes to a close tonight and specifically, let's look at nowhere virginia, the big four. loudoun county, fairfax county, arlington, prince william -- of those four, where is it most critical for either one of these candidates to lock up a victory to, in essence, bring northern virginia into the column and bell weather for the state? >> reporter: i said it early on and it bears repeating. there are two counties, they are key. prince william four years ago president obama got 58% of the vote there and how den four years ago he won. governor mcdonnell won them and in 2010, the at races, they went republican. is it going to be a tale of

2009 or the tale of 2008? the whole country is concentrating and if he wins ohio and not virginia, he's in trouble in terms of that magic number of 270. >> and let's talk to the gateway. you have similar voting patterns in ohio that you have in virginia. you have heavily concentrated urban areas situated nearby in rural areas. how has that mirrored itself between what has been going on in this campaign in ohio and in the common wealth of virginia? >> four years ago, president obama won ohio by 5 percentage points, 260,000 votes. he won hamilton county. cincinnati is part of hamilton county. cincinnati is predominantly, a major black, but the area

around cincinnati is white and it had been 40 years since any linden johnson, since any president had won hamilton county. that is the key county: the president doesn't do as well as the republican in rural counties but he cut into some of those margins. the key for him is cuyahoga, which is cleveland. he has to come out of there about 300,000 votes to make up for the rest of the state. >> fox 5 political analyst, mark, we thank you for your time tonight. coming up on the 20-minute mark, brian, the polls will close in the commonwealth of virginia . there are several big issues on the ballot in maryland. question four, maryland's version of the dream act. question six, the civil marriage action and the gambling expansion referendum. lauren demarco is live at a polling station. they close at 8:00 there. how's the last-minute turnout?

>> reporter: it was busy. folks got off of work and in is looks like the line is moving inside in laurel here, they have 2800 eligible voters and more than 1900 have voted. seeing some nice turnout here in laurel, maryland. there are three major ballot questions that you mention, big issues also. the presidential election and, of course, the senate race. democratic incumbent senator ben cardin up against republican dan bongino and independent rob siobani. those are the issues here and spoke with folks heading out. they said it took them 40 minutes and said done waiting through the line and getting through the process and voting and about an hour and a half here. you need to have identification on you if you a first-time voter. >> we see a lot of signs behind

you. there are always people supporting their particular issue at the polling places. what was the biggest turnout, the biggest group of supporters at that price there? >> the biggest? you mean those handing out pamphlets? we have had some for same-sex marriage and for gambling. questions six and seven appear to be the host here and there were a -- there was a lot of talk about question 4, the maryland version of the dream act. folks we spoke with here, for the most part, seem to be for that. they seem to be split on both questions six and seven. and so, that is what is going on here, brian. >> all right. >> let's go to the battleground state of virginia, long lines and greeted voters at several places there. and seeking a u.s. president and new senator. let's check in with karen gray houston live in burke, virginia, now with more. karen. having problems with karen, obviously. the election in d.c. includes votes on who will chair the

city council and three very high-profile amendments. let's try matt ackland live in mckinley tech high school in northeast. matt? >> reporter: i talked to the board of elections not too long ago. they said everything was looking good. there were complaints about the electronic voting machines throughout the district. not that they're working properly, but basically there are not enough of them. the polls here in d.c. will remain open until 8:00, and he's the rule. if you are in line at 8:00, they're going to let you flow through and make sure that you do get to vote. so, if you're in line at 8:00, you will be able to come through. as you were saying, there is a couple of questions on the ballot. having to do with ethics reform here in d.c. also, four ward council societies are up for grabs as well as two at-large seats. the two at-large seats are really what folks are looking at and the council chairman

shot. remember, kwame brown had to step down, the temporary person in place right now is phil mendelson. he's running for that seat and it looks like, if you talk to most folks in the district, that phil mendelson will become the council chair. at this point, we're not sure again, brian, the polls closing in the district at 8:00 p.m. >> all right, matt ackland. let's try back with karen gray houston in burke, virginia now. >> reporter: the polls close here in virginia in a few minutes. at 7:00, and we should be starting to get an indication, not too long after that, about whether this is going to be a red or a blue state. president obama seems to have a slightem in the more recent polls taken over mitt romney. as you know, the only poll that really counts is the one that is going on right now. now, the lines have been long here. voting heavy at the lake braddock secondary school in burke all day long and this

houses two precincts. the lake braddock precinct, a larger one and the heaviest voting and the signal hill precinct. we are told by officials that, and i have some numbers here 4600 voters voted and that is out of 7,850 registered voters, which makes it about a 70% turnout, which is awfully heavy and there are about 1,000 absentee ballots that they have to count. now, the voters we spoke to seem to favor president obama and gave us reasons that they think he is more concerned about women, than he is more concerned about the middle school. some of the romney supporters and voters said they thought it was time for the country to head in another direction and so they wanted to see a republican now in charge. now, almost nobody mentioned the senate race in virginia, which, as you know, is between

the republican george allen and tim kaine, both former governors. they didn't talk about the house vote in this particular district, which involves the democrat jerry connelly, the conduct chris perkins. they sail -- the incumbent chris perkins. it's going to take the precincts about an hour or two to tally up their votes after the precincts close at 7 and get them over to the central election board so that they can get, talk up the numbers. so, we're looking at maybe something around 9:30, 10:00 tonight before we get a real inkling about what is going to happen in this all-important state of virginia. back into you. brian. >> karen. far from over on this election day. coming up after the break, president obama in chicago, mitt romney in boston and we're going go live to both campaign headquarters and the final stretch, insight into what could happen tonight. you're watching -- watching the news edge special edition of

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. america waits to see some election results, who will win the white house. president obama will be watching the election results in his campaign headquarters in chicago. and let's go there live. what is it like there? >> reporter: not much of a bod

there. the president nor the vice president are here yet. can you see behind me, the stage has been set for the president and he and vice president joe biden will be with their families here tonight monitoring the results as they come in. throughout the day, the president has been trying to relax and surrounded hill. and he did not do any campaigning opposed to the campaign in 2008 until election day and remember stead, the president played basketball -- the president, instead, played basketball. the secretary of education arne duncan and scotty pippen were there playing with him. and this has become a ritual for the president. he seems superstitious and it's supposed to bring him good luck on election day. the president made a surprise stop on the campaign field office in hyde park and it's not clear when the president

will arrive tonight, the doors will open to the public at 730time tonight and this is different from the rally we saw in 2008 when president election -- president-elect president obama gave his speech and that was an unticketed event attracting 2,000 people. this event will be smaller, about 10,000 people and security is much sighter and you can expect the news to be different. >> joining us live from chicago, and let's go to mitt romney's headquarters in boston. >> reporter: brian, a very anticipated, exciting mood here in boston. at the boston convention center. the stage is set and people are beginning to pile in. 8,000 people are expected here tonight. from that stage, that podium, well, governor romney will give his election speech or concessions speech.

it's a raiser-thin margin and we're e -- we're expecting a long night. the security issue is tight there, as you can imagine and we'll be there all night covering the latest for you. i'm squareeled holbrooke, fox -- jared hole brooke. fox news. who will win the white house? hopefully tonight we will know. we will get insight when we come back. come back. you're on timeout leo! some things won't last 25 years. ah! woof! some things will. save up to 15% on an ikea kitchen.

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. it's a waiting game for the race to the white house. 270 is the magic number both candidates need for victory. the paths could take many different directions. how's it shaping up? hill reporter niles stanich. thank you for coming in on this election night. i am sure you have seen the early exit polls. are you able to glean information from that? >> i think it's dangerous to glean or extrapolate too much. there is something showing this is a fraction of the republican than 2008. it would not be determinative and it's wise to be cautious. >> is that what we're hearing, the turnout is much heavier than in 2008? are you seeing that perhaps there are more republicans turning out? >> i think there are some more republicans with the composition of the electorate is slightly more republican. in the exit poll data we have seen so far, there is not a suggestion that that is by any means definitive.

obviously, president obama won a victory here years ago. there is a certain amount of loweway he has. >> the polls close in virginia at 8, should that be a big deal or is this not going to unfold slower than that? >> well, obviously, the results will start to come out as soon as we see the polls close in various states. one of the key things to look at is how quickly the networks call particularly competitive states. if in virginia one went either way, it would be a sign someone is having a great night. in other places like north carolina, governor romney needs that for him. pennsylvania, president obama would want that put in his column fast. >> refresh your memory. the networks have been wrong. >> they certainly have. the most famous instance, obviously, being in 2000, when florida was the devicive state between george bush and al gore. there were projections made, taken back, other projects made and taken back.

that whole thing was frankly a fiasco. the networks are reluctant to get into that kind of situation again. >> what is the sign either campaign could be in trouble as they try to get tmagic number of 270? >> states that lean one way or another are expected to, like north carolina for romney or pennsylvania for obama. if either of those is very, very competitive, that is a sign of trouble. obviously ohio is a link pin in this election and both campaigns will be watching this -- a lynch pin and both states will be watching this debate. >> i don't know if you can extrapolate it to the local scene, but i know, perhaps, maryland, for example, their it's a heavily democratic state. there are a lot of issues on the ballot, the gay marriage and gambling. may dissuade republicans from voting because they feel the state's going to go toward president obama, anyway. does that hurt the local issues or make an impact on them? >> i think it can. the interplay between local

issues and national ones is interesting. and in 2004, republicans are perceived to have used some local ballot issues to drive turnout for them. obviously, anything this in general dissuades republicans from voting also hurts conservative positions and vice- versa for democrats and liberal positions. again, in a state like maryland, which is not massively competitive, really, in the presidential race, we don't want to read too much into this. >> and so, as the polls close, give me the five states that you have at the top of your list? obviously, i am assuming ohio is number one and then? >> i think virginia will be absolutely pivotal. that is a tossup at this stage and it will be interesting to watch what happens in florida. governor romney's team thinks they have that but it's not a certain thing. later in the night, the last two states that are battlegrounds that close their polls are iowa and nevada. those are both states that president obama has a slight edge and, obviously, his campaign will be wanting to so

that edge reflected in the results. if it's not, that could, again, be problematic for him. >> niles stanich, i know you look forward to those nights. a lot of us are ready for the election to be over and this is like the super bowl for you. >> this is what it's about. >> enjoy. we'll talk to you soon. >> thanks. >> we'll be right back. ght bac

. stay with fox 5 for your election results tonight. it's going to be a busy night. we'll have coverage and live reports and analysis throughout the evening. we want you to weigh in on everything from the presidential race to the highly contested senate contest in virginia and the controversial ballot measures in maryland. use the hash tag decision 2012 to tweet us your thoughts and we'll be streaming live on your mobile device and we'll have the latest election results. make sure you download the fox five news app. it's on itunes or google play. the polls close in virginia and a number of other states in about two minutes. the guessing ends. results begin. where others fail, droid powers through.

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